Hatred
by rhead-a-holyc
Summary: All his life Tom had only faced actions out of hate. Except that one time. One shot. Challenge fic.


**_Disclaimer:_**** I do not own Harry Potter**

**OTP Boot Camp Challenge [Hatred]**

**_Hatred_**

The taste of hatred had been one that had followed him around everywhere he went. First it had been in the Orphanage, simply because he was _different_. He had not been like anyone else and there had been no way he could have been, not when he had magic that reacted to his emotions. He had learned to control that soon, use it to his own advantage only because he had been forced to. He had needed a means of retaliation against the boys who were bigger and stronger than he was. He had desperately needed a way of protecting himself and his magic had answered.

He had been treated with hatred upon being sorted into Slytherin in his first night at Hogwarts. He had not control over that either, there was no way for him to know where exactly he would be sorted. His fellow Slytherins had hated him for being a 'mudblood' and for _besmearing _the House of Slytherin with his tainted blood. Despite noticeably being one of the most intelligent in his house, the Purebloods only ever looked down on him because he seemed to have no relation with the WIzarding World before Hogwarts.

That had only remained true until he had come across a particular phrase in a book he had been reading rather disinterestedly until then.

'_… and Salazar Slytherin, perhaps most well-known for his ability to speak to snakes or Parseltongue …'_

That had marked the change of his status within the House of Slytherin. They no longer hated him for being a black mark in the Slytherin House but now they hated him for his intelligence, something they had never bothered to pay attention to before, and his supposed luck for being born with the ability of Parseltongue.

Wizards were such fickle creatures, always flocking to the one that held the power at the time and dropping them once that power was lost. They were not unlike muggles in the way they feared people who were different and had some special ability no one else had. Some feared the unknown power, like the Hufflepuffs usually did, some hated the ones they saw in power, as the Gryffindors did, others strove to be in the good graces of the ones in power, like the Slytherins did. There were only a select few who were not bothered either way, only worried about what would affect them directly, usually the latter group was filled with Ravenclaws but there were also some people from the other houses that could fit into the latter group. He could not bring himself to assume a stereotype onto everyone in every house into a single category, not after everyone had always assumed everything about him for most of his life.

The first time he had been confronted by something other than hatred and false sweetness from another person, he had frozen. He had not known how to react to such things, used to only the roughness of the people he had been surrounded with for his years in Hogwarts and in the Orphanage. The other boy had taken it in his stride though and acted as if he is actions were not weird in the slightest. The first time he had been confronted with anything other than hatred, he had not managed to completely acknowledge such an action until the moment had long since passed, with the other boy long gone into the maze of passages that was Hogwarts.

_Harry Potter._

He had learned the identity of the other boy quickly enough though. The other boy was in the year below him and was apparently the epitome of all things Gryffindor. Brave, kind, honest, and all round nice person who simply went out of his way to help people for seemingly no reason whatsoever. Everyone always assumed there was nothing that could get to the other boy to make him angry.

They were wrong though. The Potter often got annoyed, he merely covered his annoyance well and quickly casting an expression of polite helpfulness. The boy may be a Gryffindor but he also held many of the qualities possessed by a true Slytherin. His kindness alone drew many people to help him whenever he needed help. That kindness had drawn people to become loyal to him. Harry had people who would follow him to the ends of the Earth and didn't even know it.

Perhaps he would do exactly the same. Simply because of that simple act that had held something other than hatred.


End file.
